Thoughts, opinions, and ramblings about (broadly) children's literature from my perspectives as a writer, parent, and volunteer elementary school librarian. Plus I post Fibs, Oddaptations and poetry galore, all listed on the right and left hand sides of the blog.

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Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Long, long ago,
before man tamed words on the page
and when elephants
were great kings of the sky,
ruling the storms,
inking out the sun,
stampeding across the stars,
there was a great counselor and prophet
who traveled to the most remote mountain villages
to share all he knew.
As word spread of the master’s visit,
many gathered under the arms
of an ancient elm,
and even a great flock of
elephants swooped in with
the first ribbons of dawn
to perch in the branches and listen.
But a quarrel erupted
among the elephants
over who had the best view,
causing the limbs of the tree
to fracture and fall,
crushing all but the prophet himself.
Furious,
the prophet invoked a dreadful curse,
shriveling the elephants’ prized wings
into pitiful ears,
chaining the elephant
to gravity and man’s will
for all eternity.
To this very day
you can see the poor elephants
flapping their ears,
dreaming of flight,
but now only
cousins of clouds.

Tracie Vaughn Zimmer is a poet, novelist, teacher, and reading specialist for whom, I read, chocolate is a major food group. I think we must be related! And since today is her birthday, let me lead the chorus of song for my new-found relative... and wish her a happy birthday full of chocolate cake!

I love the way Tracie's poetry creates such rich imagery and how she finds small but perfect details to tell a bigger story than seems possible in the amount of words she uses. The poems in her collection Steady Hands, where I first "met" her, are great examples of different ways to approach the same broad subject - jobs - as well as having those pitch perfect details... and I must admit that I now can't wait until Cousins of Clouds is out and about. Until then, though, I'm simply so excited to have Tracie Vaughn Zimmer here on 30 Poets/30 Days. (And happy birthday!)

7 comments:

I love Tracie's work, too. Her imagery evokes such emotion, whether about elephants or a girl's emotions who moves away from home. Thanks for posting this exquisite poem, Greg - and thanks for writing it, Tracie!

This one has stayed with me for hours now. I keep thinking about how it's mythic, in the best way, by making me see an alternate history - and it seems so possible! It's exactly the kind of thing I loved to do as a kid (come up with implausible reasons for things) and it really put me in that wonderful sweet spot of imagination again.Thanks to Tracie for sharing - and Greg for hosting such an amazing month of poetry!Namaste,Lee

About Me

I'm a screenwriter, volunteer librarian, dad, and SCBWI member with a love of poetry and picture books.
I'm currently working on a middle grade novel for Arthur A. Levine Books as well as writing Fibs, other poetry, and, over at The Happy Accident, all about social media, too.